'My waistline has expanded': Carol Vorderman prefers 'pigging out' to working out

CAROL Vorderman could, you suspect, have any man she wanted. Even Britain’s most-swooned-over teen has declared his intentions.

Carol Vorderman admits that her new TV show makes her 'pig out' (Dan Kennedy)

“I had a good laugh when it was reported that Harry Styles wanted to take me out on a date,” she says of the One Direction singer. “But he hasn’t come on Loose Women yet to ask me! When you get to my age, you are just grateful for any attention. But you can’t possible take it seriously.”

Still looking sensational at 52, Carol admits that she is always “very flattered” when people find her attractive. Unsurprisingly, though, the presenter is spoken for.

Carol is currently dating ex-Red Arrows pilot Graham Duff, who is 14 years her junior – and she’s not alone.

“We are all dating younger men on Loose Women,” laughs Carol, who looks even more youthful in the flesh than she does on TV. “There is a 14-year age gap between me and Duffy, there’s 14 years between Denise Welch and her toy boy Lincoln, and Claire Sweeney – who used to be on Loose Women – is getting hitched and her man is 14 years younger as well.

“We all joke that having a toy boy is the new black,” she adds with a grin. “But I wouldn’t say that we are cougars and it hasn’t been a conscious thing. None of us has said, ‘I know what I need: a younger man.’ If that was the case, I would probably end up with a 24 year old!”

Carol is clearly in a very happy phase of her life and you suspect that Graham, who now runs an internet firm in Brighton, plays no little part in that. She met the 38 year old at a charity ball and the couple made their first public appearance at the Pride of Britain Awards last October. So what’s the secret of their happiness?

“Ooh my Duffy,” she smiles. “He is great but I don’t tend to talk about him. I have never really talked about any of my relationships. But we are very happy.”

With a defined jawline and radiant complexion, Carol has arguably never looked better, but she denies tampering with her looks.

“About four years ago I had a few crowns put in my teeth,” she says. “Since then people have said, ‘She’s got “pillow face”.’ I have noticed that one side of my face is bigger than the other, but my dentist told me that the bite on my teeth isn’t right. As a result I’ve been using the muscles in my left cheek a lot more and that side of my face looks plumper.

"People might have thought, ‘Ooh, she’s had fillers.’ But I haven’t, I can tell you now.” Still, would she ever consider it?

“When I appeared on Piers Morgan’s show, he asked me about surgery and I told him that I am not going down that route of discussing what I would and wouldn’t have done,” she says politely but firmly. “Men are never asked and the moment that they are, I will answer that question – but not before."

Carol is currently dating Graham Duff who is 14 years younger than her

I had a good laugh when it was reported that Harry Styles wanted to take me out on a date.

Carol Vorderman

Carol has also come under fire for her fashion sense in the past, with critics suggesting that her tight-fitting clothes aren’t age appropriate.

“I think I know what suits me – although others may beg to differ,” she says. “The first time I was called ‘mutton dressed as lamb’ was when I was 39. I had just done my detox diet and I wore a powder-blue minidress to the BAFTAs. The critics went mad and I still get called it all the time.

“Some people think that because you’re 50 you should be wearing elasticated waistbands, which is nonsense,” she adds. “I wouldn’t wear a miniskirt now because I wouldn’t look good in it. I would wear a pair of shorts on holiday but that’s different.”

There was a time, however, when Carol was a little more reticent about revealing her curves.

“Before stretch material came along, there were certain clothes I could never wear,” she explains. “I’ve got a big bottom, a big chest and a small waist – if a dress didn’t go in at the waist then I would look like a sack of spuds.”

Carol admits she has fluctuated from size eight to size 16 during her career. She is currently a size 10 and has no intention of embarking on any harsh exercise regimes.

“I’m not a gym bunny,” she says firmly. “I have tried it but I find gyms so boring. And you certainly won’t find me running down by the South Bank outside the Loose Women studios. I once had a personal trainer but I spent as much time ringing him up to cancel the appointments as I did arranging them.

“I wish I could say, ‘Right, I am going to invest two months and have this amazing body,’ but it’s just not me,” she adds.

“I keep fit by never stopping. My house in Bristol is on five floors, so if I am in my office and want a cup of tea, I have a lot of steps to get to the kitchen and back.”

And Carol reckons it’s not just her active lifestyle that keeps her looking young.

Carol says she is close to her 20-year-old daughter Katie

“I had my eyes lasered last year because I had to wear glasses all the time and that has taken 10 years off me,” she says. “Now I don’t have to go, ‘Where are my glasses,’ and I can see what I’m cooking!

“I definitely feel more confident now than I did in my thirties,” she continues. “Of course there are little bits and pieces that could do with adjusting. But I don’t fret when I look in the mirror.”

It was in 1982 that Carol shot to fame as Countdown’s mathematical brainbox, a role that she performed for 26 years. With her knack of rattling off sums spontaneously, she quickly got labelled “the thinking man’s crumpet” but brushes off any such suggestion (“It’s not a meaningful phrase”).

Carol was awarded an MBE in 2000 and went on to present a number of peak-time programmes, such as Find a Fortune, Better Homes and the Pride of Britain Awards.

These days, though, she’s right at home on the Loose Women panel, where the banter is famously no-holds-barred. But, for Carol, one subject remains a definite no-no.

“I would never discuss sex,” she says. “Before we film the show, we meet up and that is when all the naughty stories come out. But by the time we’re on air, it has to be censored for legal reasons. The lawyers don’t let half the stuff go out!”

Carol is very fond of her naughty co-presenter Denise Welch, or Denzey as she calls her.

“Denzey never changes,” she says. “She is a very loveable, kind person and has been very misunderstood by the press – she would never do wrong by anybody. Considering it is only a year since she was on Celebrity Big Brother, her life has changed quite radically. She and Lincoln are getting married in July, so we are all off to Portugal – can you imagine?

That will be a riot! I am going to need a month off afterwards.” But Carol isn’t even contemplating marriage herself right now.

She was 24 when she wed her first husband, Christopher Mather, a Royal Navy officer and former international rugby league player, and the marriage only lasted for 12 months. Her second was to management consultant Patrick King in 1990.

The 52-year-old insists that she would never discuss sex on Loose Women (ITV)

They had two children, Katie, now 20, and Cameron, 16, but the couple separated in 2000 and Carol went on to date journalist Des Kelly.

“I was very young when I got married the first time,” she reflects. “It only lasted a year and he wasn’t right for me at all. Paddy and I worked well together and we were very close for many years. When we had Katie and Cameron, it brought us even closer.”

So what went wrong? “Paddy was very busy – he was very senior at Price Waterhouse Coopers and he was abroad a lot,” she explains. “My career was going really well but it wasn’t specifically about work. Only he and I know why we split up and it will remain that way. It’s very difficult when marriages break up, but I tend to operate on gut instinct and whenever I have gone against that, it has always ended in trouble.

"There are a couple of relationships that I didn’t really want to be in and I should have got out before I did.”

Carol may have her regrets but becoming a mother definitely isn’t one of them. “My life would be completely different without kids but I wouldn’t have had it any other way,” she says. “As soon as Katie was born, that was it for me. You are owned by that child and you would die in a nanosecond for them. I still would. Nothing will ever change that.

“It’s not easy being a single parent – I wouldn’t recommend it,” she continues. “It was hard when the kids were young but I had my mum to help and I wouldn’t have had the career I’ve had without her. I haven’t always spent as much time with my kids as I would have liked, but I think they have turned out pretty well. Folk often comment on what lovely young people they are, so did I get it right or did I get it wrong? You can only do your best.

“Cameron recently turned 16 and he’s 6ft 4ins,” she adds. “He is a real gent and very mature for his years. And Katie and I get on like a house on fire. She is in her second year at Cambridge studying physics. She is a hard worker and a chip off the old block. Our relationship is definitely one of mother and daughter, though. We are not best friends – I wouldn’t want to go out partying with her.”

One celebration they will definitely be hooking up for, however, is Mother’s Day. Carol’s mum Edwina, 84, will also be there, as will Cameron, of course.

“We might have a big dinner at home or we’ll go to Bordeaux Quay, which is a lovely restaurant in Bristol,” she says.

“I always like to make a fuss of my mum on Mother’s Day. I am very close to her. She has taught me to do whatever makes me happy, and I have lived with her or near her all my life. In fact, she worked for me for 25 years as my secretary.”

The presenter’s parents parted when she was only a few weeks old. Her mother remarried when Carol was nine but separated again 10 years later.

“There were tough times and we didn’t have much money,” she recalls. “I had to sleep in the same bed as my mum until she met my stepfather. But we live in a very happy house now. We can’t bear tension. I cope with that at work but your home is your haven, particularly when you are on screen. I hate arguments.”

Carol has worked non-stop since her late teens and she suspects that it will never be otherwise. For the past few weeks she has been busy promoting her new ITV show Food Glorious Food, which is all about discovering brilliant new recipes.

“I love it,” enthuses Carol. “People have been saying that it’s just like the BBC’s Great British Bake Off but it’s not at all. It’s a bit like Antiques Roadshow in that people have been bringing their recipes along to show me and the rest of the judges, and telling us the stories of how they’ve created their dish.

“My waistline has definitely expanded since I have been doing the show – I have been pigging out,” she admits. “Sometimes I was filming at eight in the morning and already on the pudding. I have put on about five pounds and I need to lose it. But I’ll go on a hardcore detox diet and eat lots of fruit, vegetables and brown rice.”

Carol’s latest passion is sure to burn off a few calories. Apparently, the presenter has been putting in the hours for a private pilot’s licence, with encouragement from her boyfriend Graham, of course.

“It’s nice to have a partner who shares that love of flying,” says Carol. “When I was younger, one of my long-term boyfriends was really into cars and I love F1 racing. I just adore it when you can relate to one another in that way.

“I always wanted to be a pilot when I was younger but when I was in my twenties, I had no money and when my career took off, I had no time,” she explains.

“Before Christmas, Katie and I went to San Diego. I flew a four-seat Cessna 172, which was very exhilarating. Now I hope that Katie and I get our licences at the same time. Hopefully, that will be by Easter, but it’s hard to say.”

And what then?

“My next ambition is to make a TV documentary about my love of flying – I don’t ever stop, do I?”